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Growing Up in Small Town Never Hindered Smith's Basketball Development

ORLANDO – There are still times, even eight years into this unlikely NBA career, that Jason Smith will look around some exotic locale or across from a NBA superstar player and he’ll marvel at how far he’s come from Kersey, Colo.

Yep, that Kersey, Colo., the one that few people have ever heard of and even fewer people know how to pronounce properly. ``It’s Ker-zee. Everybody makes that mistake – even my old college coach, Billy Peterson, who’s right over there,’’ Smith said pointing to the Magic’s D-League coach.

How unlikely is it that a NBA player such as Smith came from Kersey, Colo.